Here are a few points to pray about right now:

• Thank God for this beautiful, bountiful, good planet.
• Pray for continued commitment to the Paris deal in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election, that the new administration will seek to strengthen rather than weaken this historic global compact.
• Pray for those working for creation care around the world ‒ the countless men and women ‒ including BMS workers ‒ who daily campaign, work, write and act for a sustainable environment.

Sir Jonathan Porritt, co-Founder of Friends of the Earth.

Live Simply

Compassionate and loving God,
You created the world for us all to share, a world of beauty and plenty.
Create in us a desire to live simply,
So that our lives may reflect your generosity.
Creator God, you gave us responsibility for the earth,
A world of riches and delight.
Create in us a desire to live sustainably, so that those who follow after us
May enjoy the fruits of your creation.
God of peace and justice, you give us the capacity to change,
To bring about a world that mirrors your wisdom.
Create in us a desire to act in solidarity, so that the pillars of injustice crumble and those now crushed are set free.

Amen.

© Linda Jones/CAFOD

Prayer of confession and intercession
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. (Psalm 51: 10)

O God, we have wandered away
From caring for your world
From welcoming the outsider
From trusting in you…
Silence

Response
Come, searching God
Find us and save us

Loving God,
We pray for your world
Stained by our thoughtless pollution,
Threatened by our use of coal, oil and gas
Deprived of many species made extinct
Encourage and strengthen all who care for your creation
Come, searching God
Find us and save us 

We pray for your Church
To be a joyful celebrant of your creation
In our singing and our praying
In our preaching and our sharing
In our scriptural explorations
and our spirit-filled conversations
In our prayerful decision-making
and in reaching out to our communities
Come, searching God
Find us and save us
Amen 

These prayers are part of the resource material Creation Time promoted by the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

God of truth, give us grace to debate the issues raised by the EU referendum with honesty and openness.
 Give generosity to those on both sides of the debate
 and discernment to all of us with power.

May we choose an economy whose values are pleasing to you, and, with all the peoples of Europe, work for peace and the common good; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.
An amended version of the prayer the Church of England released following the result of the EU Referendum.

An Eco Church prayer

May God who established the dance of creation
Who marvelled at the lilies of the field
Who transforms chaos to order
Lead us to transform our lives and the Church
To reflect God’s glory in creation

Amen

Source: ecocongregation.org

In England and Wales, Eco-Congregation has recently given way to Eco Church – A Rocha UK’s new, web-based award scheme for churches who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth.

We hope you can use these poems to meditate on creation’s role in feeding the soul. Allow personal resonance with the moments evoked here to infuse your worship and prayer.

From Screened Porch

…The moon was shrouded, fragmentary.
Twilight like silt covered the hills.
The great drama of human life was nowhere evident —

but for that, you don’t go to nature.

…Solace of the natural world. Panorama
of the eternal. The stars
were foolish, but somehow soothing. The moon
presented itself as a curved line.
And we continued to project onto the glowing hills
qualities we needed: fortitude, the potential
for spiritual advancement.

Immunity to time, to change. Sensation
of perfect safety, the sense of being
protected from what we love —

And our intense need was absorbed by the night
and returned as sustenance.

Louise Glȕck, The Seven Ages, Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2001. Permission to re-publish this extract online has been sought.

The Moor

You can read R S Thomas’ The Moor in R S Thomas, Collected Poems 1945-1990, London: Phoenix, 1995, and in various collections and blogs here.

Blessing 

May God who established the dance of creation,
who marvelled at the lilies of the field,
who transforms chaos to order,
lead us to transform our lives and the Church
to reflect God’s glory in creation.

Andrew Warmback and Brian Wilinson, Network of Earthkeeping Christian Communities in South Africa, World Council of Churches Time for Creation (2010)

A prayer of praise

In bright light and dull darkness
In the energy of each day and the rest that comes with night
We remember the goodness of God

In the heavens high above our heads
In waters that run deep around the world
We remember the goodness of God

In solid land and flowing seas
In vivid flowers and fruit-laden trees
We remember the goodness of God

In the rising and setting of the sun
and the cycles of the seasons
In the patterns of the shining stars
We remember the goodness of God

In oceans teaming with fish
In skies filled with birds
We remember the goodness of God

In a world filled with animal life
And in ourselves as human beings
We remember the goodness of God

In rest and reflection, in wonder and worship
We remember the goodness of God

The world around you is full of beauty
We praise your name O God
For the gift of life on earth
We praise your name O God
Open our eyes to your artistry
Your image is in all that you have made
Where our praise is short or silent
All creation sings out with joy
Here we join creation’s song
We praise your name O God

hftf.org.uk

A prayer of approach and adoration
From the anthology of prayers, Hope in God’s Future. 

Gracious God,
We confess that we have been slow to recognise how carelessly we have treated your precious gift of creation.
Our addictive lifestyles have encouraged us to take, use and cast aside.
We have plundered finite resources,
with little thought for poorer communities and future generations.
We acknowledge our guilt and ask you to change our hearts.
May we glimpse the possibilities of a new, shared, wholesome and more just way of living.
May we know your forgiveness,
and act upon it,
so that we may receive your
fullness of life,
and know lasting contentment.

Silence

In the name of Christ, who did not abandon us in our limited, myopic lives, we ask to hear your words of forgiveness; to receive the gift of your Spirit to blow through us, spring cleaning our hearts and lives.
Amen.

The resting peace
Chris Polhill, A Heart for Creation

The resting space
Lord, I fear the cold,
the chill of winter
that hurts my nose
with each breath;
freezes my toes;
shrivels my spirit,
so I long for
summer’s warmth.
Want my home, my shops,
warm as summer.
Teach me nature’s rhythm
for wintertime.
The resting space,
pause for thought;
the warmer clothes
and slanting light.
A gentle use
of earth’s resources.

A Heart for Creation, Wild Goose Publications (2010)

A prayer of approach and adoration

From Hope in God’s future: Christian discipleship in the context of climate change. 
Wonderful God,
Sometimes, as we immerse ourselves outdoors,
an intoxicating sense of your presence
steals upon our spirits.
Myriad colours dance in a sunlit garden or park,
and our hearts sing.
The joyful chorus of birdsong sweetly fills and
strangely deafens our ears.
Awesome snow-capped mountains and tumultuous waterfalls speak to us of your eternal timelessness.
Scurrying, flitting insects and the amazing variety of grasses absorb us on a lazy summer day.
In six days you created the world, and then on the seventh, you stopped and paused to delight in your creation, seeing its goodness and seeing our goodness,
so that you trusted us to be caretakers with you.
You call us in this kairos moment to pause with you,
to take time,
to drink in deeply the wonderful gift of creation.
Help us not to continue to carelessly spoil it
in thoughtless, rushing lifestyles.
May we deeply see, hear, smell, touch, taste and cherish
the fragile inter-connected garden of the earth
– your gift to us.
Amen.

A prayer based on Psalms 102: 25 (NIV)
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” 

Loving God,

Thank you for the gift of creation.
As we experience each day,
as we take every step on our life’s pilgrimage,
may we take time to wonder and give you thanks.
From each sunrise to every sunset,
in all the seasons
and with every breath,
may we celebrate our home in creation,
and the gift of life.

As our climate is changing,
give us the compassion to care deeply
that people are suffering now,
from spoiled harvest and violent storms,
from drought and flood.
Give us the imagination to see
that future generations are in peril
and may not know the beauty we see.

May our actions reflect a love for your world
our prayers be shaped by a longing for justice for all,
and our imaginations inspired to hope for
a world free from poverty.
Amen.

A Christian prayer in union with creation
Published in Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’.

Father, we praise you with all your creatures.
They came forth from your all-powerful hand;
they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love.
Praise be to you!
Son of God, Jesus,
through you all things were made.
You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother,
you became part of this earth,
and you gazed upon this world with human eyes.
Today you are alive in every creature
in your risen glory.
Praise be to you!

Holy Spirit, by your light
you guide this world towards the Father’s love
and accompany creation as it groans in travail.
You also dwell in our hearts
and you inspire us to do what is good.
Praise be to you!

Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love,
teach us to contemplate you
in the beauty of the universe,
for all things speak of you.
Awaken our praise and thankfulness
for every being that you have made.
Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined
to everything that is.

God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth,
for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.
The poor and the earth are crying out.
O Lord, seize us with your power and light,
help us to protect all life,
to prepare for a better future,
for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Praise be to you!
Amen.

A prayer to follow Paris COP21
Sir Francis Drake

O Lord God,
When you give to your servants to endeavour
any great matter,
grant us also to know that it is not the beginning,
but the continuing of the same,
until it be thoroughly finished,
which yields the true glory.
Amen.